The permanency legislation passed in NYS in 2005 (Chapter 3 of the Laws of 2005) requires the Family Court to set a date certain (a specific day set by the court) for each permanency hearing for certain categories of children who have been removed from their home. It also eliminates the need for local districts to file petitions to calendar permanency hearings or extensions of placement hearings for these categories of children, as was required in the past.
This legislation also created a new Article 10-A of the FCA. that sets forth the standards and requirements for permanency hearings and permanency hearing reports. Social services districts are required to create a permanency hearing report prior to each permanency hearing to provide the court and the parties to the proceeding with current, complete, and accurate information about the status of the case.
Permanency Hearings must be conducted—and Permanency Hearing Reports completed and distributed—in accordance with Article 10-A of the FCA for cases involving the following circumstances:
children who entered foster care as abused or neglected children (FCA Article 10);
children who entered foster care through a voluntary placement agreement (SSL 384-a);
children who entered foster care through a surrender of guardianship and custody (SSL 384);
foster children determined by a court to be completely legally free for adoption through a surrender, termination of parental rights, or death of the parent(s), whether in foster care pursuant to FCA Articles 3 (JD), 7 (PINS) or 10 (abused/neglected), or by voluntary placement or surrender;
children placed by the court directly in the legal custody of a relative or other suitable person in accordance with FCA Article 10; and
children noted above between the ages of 18 and 21 who consent to remain in foster care.
Note #1: While Chapter 3 of the Laws of 2005 does not expressly refer to Unaccompanied Refugee Minors, OCFS’s position is that the standards relating to permanency hearings do apply to such children. (08-OCFS- ADM-01)
Note #2: Chapter 3 of the Laws of 2005 (Article 10-A of the FCA) does not apply to permanency hearings for JDs or PINS in foster care who are not completely freed for adoption.
1. Types of Permanency Hearing Reports
OCFS and the NYS Office of Court Administration (OCA) created a form for the permanency hearing report (PHR), which is supported in CONNECTIONS and on the OCFS and OCA websites. There are actually three different types of permanency hearing report forms, or templates, and the caseworker(s) completing the report selects the most appropriate form, depending on the case circumstances. The three types of permanency hearing reports forms are:
Individual child report (PH-1)
Multiple children in the same case who are not completely legally freed (PH-2)
Individual child who is completely legally freed for adoption (PH-3)
The PHR for Individual Child (PH-1) is used for a child who is not completely free for adoption when:
a child is “partially free” and another child in the family is not free for adoption;
any of the Multiple Children Report conditions are not met; or
whenever it is equally or more convenient for the caseworker, or the Court has directed an Individual Child Permanency Hearing Report be used.
The Permanency Hearing Report for Multiple Children (PH-2) is used when: all children in the same family are scheduled to have a Permanency Hearing at
the same time; and the children have at least one parent in common (but if any confidentiality concerns among parent recipients exist, use the Individual Report); and
The PHR for Freed for Adoption Individual Child (PH-3) is used for: each child completely legally free for adoption.
Contents of the permanency hearing report include: the child’s current permanency goal;
a description of the child’s health and well-being; information on the child’s current placement; an update on the child’s educational progress;
steps taken by LDSS to enable or continue the child’s enrollment in an appropriate school or educational program;
information about referrals and the child’s involvement in early intervention, preschool, special education, or services for developmental disabilities;
assistance towards helping the child become gainfully employed or enrolled in vocational training;
visitation plan description, including persons with whom the child visits and frequency and duration of the visits;
parent’s status, including services offered to enable the child to return home, steps parents have taken to use those services, barriers to services, and steps taken by parent(s) to achieve the permanency plan;
a description of reasonable efforts taken by LDSS or other agencies to eliminate the need for placement and enable the child to return home safely, including descriptions of any services provided;
where the permanency plan is not reunification, reasonable efforts taken to make and finalize an alternative permanency plan (when adoption is the permanency plan, this may include preparation of the children, preparation of the foster families adopting, recruitment activities, and post-adoption services identified and plans to put into place);
recommended permanency plan, including any concurrent planning efforts to develop an alternative permanency plan for children unlikely to return home; information on trial or final discharge planned within the next six months, the
anticipated date, and the explanation why the discharge is safe and appropriate; information about efforts to locate and investigate the non-respondent parent
and relatives, as well as their notification of pending child welfare/child protective proceedings;
information provided to non-respondent parent and relatives about their right to visitation;
The permanency hearing report must also be accompanied by additional reports and documents as directed by the court, which may include periodic school report cards, photographs of the child, clinical evaluations, and previous court orders in related proceedings.
2. Completing Permanency Hearing Reports
The permanency hearing report forms are integrated into the CONNECTIONS system and are available as Word templates at
http://ocfs.state.ny.us/main/legal/legislation/permanency/caseworkerguide.asp.
A permanency hearing report can be initiated in CONNECTIONS by any worker with a role in the case, as recorded in the CONNECTIONS system. Protocols differ across local districts and their contract agencies as to who is responsible for initiating and completing the PHR. The CONNECTIONS system allows, but in no way enforces, that multiple people with roles in the case may work on the same permanency hearing report document. The person initiating the permanency hearing report selects whether or not to have the CONNECTIONS system pre-fill information from the system into the PHR. When information is pre-filled, it must be carefully checked for accuracy and edited to make sure it is the most current information available.
The Permanency Hearing Report is a sworn report. This requires a verification by the caseworker who has prepared the report or the case manager who has read the report and can attest to the truthfulness and completeness of the report sworn before a Notary or Commissioner of Deeds, before being filed with the court or mailed.
3. Distribution of the Permanency Hearing Report
The local district is required to distribute the completed permanency hearing report at least 14 days prior to each permanency hearing date certain to a list of required parties. Meeting this deadline is important not only to be in compliance with the law but also to allow the recipients of the permanency hearing report time to review the report and be better prepared for the permanency hearing. Included with the report must be a Notice of Permanency Hearing with the date, time, and location of the permanency hearing. The permanency hearing report, accompanied by the Notice of Permanency Hearing, can be mailed via regular U.S. mail to the required parties.
The permanency hearing report, along with a Notice of the Permanency Hearing, must be sent to the following required parties:
the child’s parent, including any non-respondent parent (unless parental rights have been terminated or surrendered);
any other person legally responsible for the child’s care; the foster parent in whose home the child currently resides; the attorney for the child (formerly called “law guardian”); the attorney for the respondent parent;
any pre-adoptive parent; and
any relative providing care for the child.
Any former foster parents with whom the child lived for 12 continuous months must be provided only with the Notice of the Permanency Hearing (and not the PHR). However, the court may dispense with notification of a former foster parent when the court determines it is in the best interests of the child.
Note: Court rules governing notice of the permanency hearing and transmittal of the permanency hearing report state that, except where a child is completely freed for adoption, in addition to sending the permanency hearing report through the mail as noted above, the social services district (the petitioner) must make reasonable efforts to provide actual notice of the permanency hearing to the respondent parents through any additional means, including, but not limited to, casework service and visiting contacts. (22 NYCRR 205.17)
The social services district must also file the original sworn PHR with the court before the date certain. It is suggested that the filing be done at the time the PHR and Notice are mailed to the parties. Another form—the “Statement to the Court of
Permanency Hearing Report and Notice Sent” (“Statement”), must accompany the PHR filed with the court. The Statement contains the names and addresses of those persons to whom the local district sent the PHR and/or Notice of the Permanency Hearing and which child or children they are associated with. The Statement is sent only to the court and must not accompany the PHR mailed to any other person, party or entity. These documents are included in and supported by the CONNECTIONS system.
RESOURCES
For more information about permanency hearing reports, see: Changes Associated with CONNECTIONS Build 18.9: Health,
Education and Permanency Hearing Report Modules, issued as an Administrative Directive in 2008 (08-OCFS-ADM-01) and available at
http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/policies/external/OCFS 2008/ A Guide for Caseworkers: Completion of the Permanency Hearing
Report (December 2005). This publication is available on the OCFS website at
http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/legal/legislation/permanency/guide for caseworkers-permanency hearing december 2005.doc
Chapter Four
Freeing the Child for Adoption Through a Surrender
When reasonable efforts to safely reunite a child with his or her family areunsuccessful, or there is a court order affirming that no reasonable efforts are needed in the case, and the decision has been made to secure another permanent home for the child through adoption, the first step is to initiate procedures to legally free the child for adoption.
The first avenue to consider is whether a voluntary surrender of the child by the parents is appropriate. Before initiating proceedings to terminate parental rights, the agency should discuss the possibility of voluntary surrender with the parents, if appropriate and consistent with the health and safety of the child. (SSL 383-c)
Sections In This Chapter
A. Surrender: Definition and Types ...1